


The Little Lesbian Mermaid

by AthenaAstor12



Category: Den lille Havfrue | The Little Mermaid - Hans Christian Andersen, Fairytale-Anderson, The Little Mermaid (1989), The Little Mermaid - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Gay, Hans Christian Anderson, Lesbian, Mermaids, Romance, Underwater, anderson - Freeform, fairytale, mermaid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 20:14:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20954267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AthenaAstor12/pseuds/AthenaAstor12
Summary: So, when I started writing this I was in a mood and really confused over my sexuality and found I was having trouble writing heterosexual relationships, but I really wanted to write something. So instead o writing my book, I decided to write the little mermaid......but lesbian, because why not.I've attempted to make this sound as much like Anderson's writing as possible and certain sections are matched paragraph for paragraph, but I've added and taken away some things to make it fit the LGBT narrative and I've also added a little bit more symbolism I think? I've also kept up Anderson's habit of not naming characters but simply referring to them as "The little Mermaid" or "The Princess." which gets confusing at times but to honor the original I've stuck with it.Yes, there are references to the 1989 Disney version, but overall I wanted it to be the 1830's original publication.





	1. Part 1: Under the Sea

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Little Mermaid](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/71421) by Hans Christian Anderson. 

> Note: The princess is the child of the ruler of the kingdom and the "Prince" is just the person her parents picked for her. They are nto married and the onyl reason I included the Prince so ealry on unlike the original is becasue I wanted to juxtapose male and female attraction and create more friction than in the original.

The analogies that could be made about the ocean run deep. It’s swirls and eddies and its crystalline waters that sometimes run red after sharks feed. Down there, where the coral shines orange and myths dance with the fish, there exists a palace. It’s made of conch shells, coral, shipwreck hulls, discarded glass and everything in between and it is gorgeous. The queen lives there, wearing her crown made of rubies, plastic, and titanium. It shines over all that she rules.  
Her son, the king, had lost his beautiful wife many years ago. She had been trying to save a human girl, but was instead hit with a plank of wood, and a whole cabinet full of china. The salt from his tears tainted the ocean for months after, and the water was colder for years. But the mother, who wore the ruby, plastic, and titanium crown took care of the kingdom. Under her rule, the merpeople flourished and the depths regained their temperature. The king was still bitter, but he took delight in his seven daughters, beautiful young maidens, who despite his sadness always made sure the palace windows were open. Their grandmother raised them to be intelligent and caring and not to hesitate to save humans, even though their mother had been killed that way.Their father objected and attempted to pull them from her grasp, but it never condensed into any real authority over the matter. Following like a school of fish, the grandmother and her granddaughters were a sight to see as their red, blue and purple, green and orange tails flicked behind them like a rainbow under the ocean. Of course none of them knew what a rainbow was. Their hair, was always braided delicately with small sea flowers, coral, or with seaweed, except for the youngest mermaid. She always wore her brilliant ginger hair down, and let it flow behind her, contrasting with the lapis lazuli and cerulean and cobalts of the ocean, prettier than any painter could capture. She was apt with her studies, but found the compassion her grandmother always taught her somewhat cumbersome.  
While all of her sisters went and gossiped about, and revealed and courted young men, the youngest mermaid would spin out further, bringing with her a small leather pouch to collect shiny fallen objects.  
One day, the grandmother gathered them close and told them with a smile larger than even a blue whale that she had a gift for each of them. Now, the youngest mermaid was only 8 at the time, but it would form one of her most vivid memories.  
The grandmother told them about how when she was younger, before she had been given a merman in her womb, she was allowed to go up and gaze at what it was like to be above the bounding liquid of the ocean.  
For weeks, the sisters would come gather at their grandmothers feet, listening attentively to all of the tales that their wise old grandmother had of what lay above them. Who could survive without good tuna, sand strewn floors and a glinting palace made of treasure, they wondered.  
But as their anticipation grew, the youngest mermaid could feel her gills constricting. All of the things she had found from the human world, seemed to be made of death, and horror. Knives, and broken glass, and a piece of metal with “Tines.” that she had deemed a dinglehopper.  
Why did they wish to partake in such violence when all was calm in the depths, that were riddled with warm crevices and dolphins squeaks?  
But her sisters didn’t relent, and to the youths shock, when the oldest mermaid turned 15, she would be allowed to go above the sea line and observe for herself all of the things her lineage had taught her.  
When the day came, the youngest asked, “Oldest sister, why are you choosing to immerse yourself in their violence?””  
The oldest sister replied, a smile lighting her lips,” My curiosity of green trees and the and apples that are brighter red than any coral overcomes whatever misgivings go on up there. “  
And so, upon the dismal face of the youngest sister, whose ginger hair deflated with morose, the oldest sister ascended to the land.  
The day the next sister went, a year later, the youngest asked the same question,  
And the second oldest sister admitted that, “Oh, the violence and hatefulness that occurs up there are all worth it for love. Grandmother says the men up there are handsome and have cheeks of rosy abundance, unlike the pale cheeks of all the suitors down here. Besides, our older sister will obtain the best match at her age ceremony. I am the second youngest, so it doesn't matter. “  
And so, leaving the youngest sister to stare on in puzzlement, the second oldest sister pumped her cobalt tail to the surface.  
Upon coming back she gushed about all the handsome men she had taunted and how funny it was to watch them drown as she played with them.  
The violence was permeating the world under the sea, and the youngest could do nothing to solve it.  
So, asked the third youngest sister, a year later the same question, “Third oldest sister, why do you choose to divulge in the violence that happens up above, just for the sake of curiosity?” The question had been altered so as to hopefully not receive a counter argument.  
“Oh, I am not curious myself. I simply wish to fit in with my sisters. I want to see the red gold apple, and the green trees, and play with the men.”  
And so, the youngest, stared up as her golden locked sister disappeared above the waves, still just as confused as the last time.  
Between the next birthday of the fourth sister, the youngest became even more of a recluse, for the surface became more and more a subject of conversation for the young women, who were her blood.


	2. Part 2: The Statue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This goes a bit off the Anderson track and becomes more like the movie but again this is supposed to be LGBT commentary of a sort and was necessary for the Juxtaposition of Male and Female Attraction

During her swimmings and musings around the ocean floor, and within the depths of the deepest crevices and places that elicited the most comfort and sea like appenditures, she continued her collection of above sea objects.   
Among her collection were many trinkets and lots of pots and pans, some gizmos, and one, a lot more dinglehoppers, something that was a stick with a bunch of tines on it and of course, some funny broken and surprisingly unbroken china.  
The youngest sisters most prized possession, however was not a part of her other collection, mostly because she wasn’t strong enough to tug it back with her now 11 year old arms.   
One day she has been swimming around inside a deep ravine, one that had formed hundreds of years ago when an infamous earthquake known as Poseidon had come to pass. Her tail brushed against ashen stone and her fingers traced cracks filled with gold as she circled her way down to the bottom of the abyssal crevice. Down there, where it was nearly pitch black, and the reflections of light off of her own hair still provided a ghostly red tint, the youngest sister saw it. It was two stone statues, much like the ones found in her home, except these were made of something shiny and white, while the ones in her home where often laced with other colors.   
The two statues were of a man and a woman, both of which were obviously noble, as seen by their many adornments and jewelry. The man wore an arrogant smirk and had his head tilted so that his short hair looked as though it was swaying in the water, but it wasn’t his carving that fascinated the youngest sister.   
Gracing the sea floor with her emerald colored tail, the youngest sister swam a circle around the statues of the woman, her tail brushing past the fingers of the male statue. Finally, after a few revolutions, she stopped the circular motion to face the statue. With shaking hands and light so scarce her nocturnal vision didn’t even suffice, the little mermaid reached out to stroke the jawline of the woman. Her finger came away cold, from the touch of the marble and when she looked at the statue the girl was met by bold, fierce eyes staring back at her. Whoever had carved this girl must have done it out of fear, for this women’s gaze could melt the very stone she was made of. Her long, colorless hair was swept back in an intricate braid that was tied off with a corded rope. The bit that wasn’t braided, hung just to the woman's chest, in soft waves and was laced with strings of pearl that greatly contrasted the harsh rope that tied the women's hair. Her clothes were strange to the little mermaid, as they did not appear to be made to look flowy like most statues. It was stiff and hard material…..like metal. The youngest sister though it was perhaps armor, like she had learned about in her history. She refrained from tracing the collar of the armor for the woman's gaze was so fierce. From the waist down, no armor covered her and a simple chitton fell around her legs, which were posed powerfully. The girl held a sword in one hand and a shield in the other. The little mermaid soon realized the woman was probably no more than a few years older than her. Perhaps 15 like the age of her sisters who went up and new what went on up there.   
Despite the statues dissonant look and harsh gaze, it was the first thing the little mermaid had found from the above world that truly interested her and didn't make her recoil. Quickly realizing she could not tug the statue back with her, she gazed upon the statue, to memorize it before swimming back to her sisters, who were all ogling the boy the oldest was now engaged to.


	3. Part 3: The Ship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think it's implied if you know the story.  
Also, this is on Wattpad as well by the same name.

For the next 3 sisters, the youngest kept asking her question and each time she got a different answer. The fourth oldest said she wished to go up to possibly find beauty that did not exist under the sea, one said she simply wished to see the sun in its pure form, and the sixth oldest, the ones before the little mermaid, said that she wished to arise above the waves because it was always cold down there? The youngest was not pleased with any of this, because despite the statue of the young girl she had found, she couldn’t possibly imagine even its purity being worth rising to the surface.   
Finally, after being regaled with excitement and all the tales of harshness that always seemed to not be dwelled on, the youngest mermaid, the little mermaid, the red haired mermaid turned fifteen. Her birthday fell in the spring, and her eyes were puffy from crying when she woke up that day despite the loveliness of the court. Maybe everyone would forget about her today? She was the seventh sister after all. There would be no sister who had never seen the world to tell about it when she returned.  
And the little mermaid was right, no one remembered, except her grandmother and father. They stood, her grandmother smiling and her father scowling, as the little mermaid swam to the edge of the only home she has ever known.   
With promises to be safe and to enjoy what she saw, the little mermaid took a deep breath and accepted her fate. If her sisters could do it, why couldn't she? It was only one time after all, and she probably couldn't see anything new or more frightening than she had already heard.   
Her grandmother placed a heavy wreath of White anemones upon her head, and the youngest bowed to her elder.  
The ascent to the surface was long, as despite the beautiful spring the water felt as though a storm was coming. She Powered on, however, only stopping when her ears popped and she had to shaker head around to keep from crying out at the pain. Why had not one told her of that before?  
When she finally reached the surface, she was not met by the beautiful sun, or moon, or distance shoreline that man of her sisters had bragged about. Instead, she was met by storm clouds that circled frighteningly.   
Deposit the storm, the sunlight stroked through in one part of the sky and the Little Mermaid was blinded for a moment by its brilliance. Shading her eyes, she followed the sun's path, to were it somewhat spotlighted a large ship, or that's what she thought it was called. It had three decks and many masts with sails and lookouts. The little mermaid was puzzled at how much effort humans put into sailing in her home.   
Upon the deck, some sort of party seemed to be in full swing. A few men sat around a barrel holding some sort of leafy paper things in their hands, and an even larger group of men were holding bottles to their lips momentarily and laughing. A group of women stood ogling the drinking men and another group wasn’t really a group, but instead seemed to simply glide amongst the chaos; refilling drinks and even what seemed to be flirting with some of the men. Another group was busy dancing to some kind of music, and the little mermaid winced as she watched the men roughly swing the women around. If she had been dancing with one of them she would be much more gentle. Another corner possessed a dog fight, and the youngest sister didn't dare look over at that vile activity, as it confirmed her theories about the above world.   
The thing that caught her eye most of all, however, was a beautiful what looked to be 18 year old, standing at the prow of the ship. She stood with posture as straight as a board and ad one boot positioned on the railing of the prow. She leaned over the rail, and the little mermaid found herself using a word she had never used to describe someone before. It was seductive the way her light colored button up billowed around her torso, only to be absorbed by her high waisted blue pants. While the girl in the statue had been in armor and a dress, this girl wore breeches and a shirt like most of the men wore, the mermaid noticed. This seemed out of place compared to the other women, who wore cumbersome prettily colored dresses. Her hair, too, was different than the other women. For one, it was bright and golden and shimmery instead of the dull colors of the others, but it also wasn’t pulled back. It simply moved of its own accord, like a sea anemone, swept along by particles not its own. Her expression was just as fierce as the statues.  
The little mermaid started a long time at the women, who looked so much like the statue she had adored since she was 11. She didn;t move for a good bit and kept puffing smoke out of a small stick. Eventually, a man, who looked like the man from the other statue, came to put a hand on her shoulder. From her vantage, the little mermaid saw the woman's fierce eyes flinch, but her body stayed motionless so as not to betray her mind They seemed to talk for a moment, the prince, as she had dubbed him, gesturing to the clouds above. The girl still looked bold and confident but the glint of fear was always present in them.  
The little mermaid knew what was coming, as twilight sunk faster and faster. She was overwhelmed by it as though a tsunami had hit her because she had been so focused on the girl. A storm of a great caliber was about to rip through the ocean.  
The sea was ready to claim new victims.  
Of course, the little mermaid could not dare expose herself to warn them, although it appears they already knew. Perhaps they weren’t as vile and stupid as she had alwasy beleived.   
The little mermaid was about to duck under the waves and flee from the storm, for if the ship wrecked she did not want to die in the same way her mother did.   
Before her tail could propel her away, however, she saw something that could not be ignored.   
While all of the other men and women had been sent under the deck or into cabins, the golden haired girl, in her sleek pirates outfit now drenched and clinging to her and her hair no longer touched by life giving light, stood alone at the helm of the ship. She clutched the wheel violently and gritted her teeth like she had just swallowed bad medicine. The ship keeled hard to the left and she lost her footing, but quickly regained it.   
The little mermaid breathed in sharply, her gills realizing that they hadn’t taken in oxygen for far too long.   
It seemed as though eh beautiful woman had it handled, and again the little mermaid was about to swim away when the girl slother balance. For real this time.  
Her shriek was silent, covered by the storm, but the little mermaid filled in the sound in her mind, as she watched the girl slide down the drastically tilted deck into the sea. She flailed froa good minute but soon fell beneath the waves, not bobbing up for a good bit.   
Thoughts of her mother and death left her, and the young mermaid shot forward to the women. The ship was going down, and its suction would bring her down with it. The others could swim, but it seemed her princess could not.   
It took what felt like an entire eternity before she reached her, and when she finally did the young womens pale face was tinged blue, and her glorious eyes were closed. She was suspended like a luminescent jellyfish and the little mermaid gasped for her brain to breathe and cooperate as she tucked the women under her arm. Once secured she pedaled to the surface to let her bob above the waves. How did humans breathe anyways? She knew they died underwater for lack of air, but how did they get air?  
She Placed a hand over the woman's heart. It was still technically beating but it was slow and her chest wasn’t heaving with strong life.   
The blue tinge was turning purple now and her thin lips that used to be a light pinkish red were now a deep magenta. It must be cold for her, the mermaid guessed, as this is what the mermaids that had visited from the tropics had looked like on occasion.   
A bolt of lightning struck the falling mast of the ship, delivering the final blow that sent the ship underneath the waves. BY now, many of the other parties had begun jumping off the deck or swimming in some kind of row boats, but she had the princess, or so she assumed, in her arms and she was going to save her.   
With determination fueled by desperation, the mermaid dragged to women who was a bit larger than her with her to the closest shore. Once there, she tugged the women as far as she could in the surf, carefully keeping her head above the water.   
She still had not opened her eyes and her lips were still magenta but the little mermaid had still never seen anything more beautiful. Sullenly, not knowing what else to do as this was a human and not a fish, like she, she extracted her arms from around the young woman's form. She took her now freed hand and brushed the girl’s wet hair from her forehead and attempted to untangle the biggest knot. Her chest wasn't moving at all, and not being able to watch the young women die, she knew it was time to take her leave. Placing a kiss upon the girls forehead and then upon the tip of her nose, the mermaid turned to leave.   
All of a sudden the women began to wretch, and syrupy water was choked from her mouth. Gasping, the mermaid leaned forward tilting head curiously. Would she be okay?   
Miraculously, the girl coughed up a bit more, some of which was tinged red and her cheeks began inflamed red. She sat up slightly with her elbows holding her up and hung her head on her chest.   
The little mermaid was frozen when she finally opened her brilliant green eyes,the same color as her tail, to peer at her unlikely rescuer.   
At first she seemed startled, but then she smiled brilliantly. She was about to speak when the little mermaid freaked, and dove back into the ocean, willing the seam foam to surround her and cover her. She swam blindly through the sea the only vision in her head the haunting eyes of the breathtaking girl. When she was a safe distance away, she looked back at the scene to see the girl, covered in some sort of dry towel, gesturing wildly to the ocean, frantically trying to explain as a group of attendants attempted to calm her.   
The youngest sister swam back to her kingdom, her heart heavy with all the curiosities that had been opened up to her.   
She had found the brilliant color her first sister had yearned, she had found a romance like her second sister, she had found a passion and conversation topic like her third, she had found beauty far greater than what lay within the depths like the fourth sister, a sun in brilliant form like her fifth sister, and finally, something that brought warmth like her sixth sister, all in the sailor women she had saved from the sinking ship.


	4. Part 4: What would you do for a princess?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sea Witch Fun.

When she arrived back in the palace, despite their not attending her departure, her sisters met her enthusiastically.   
“What did you see? “ They all asked, and the youngest detailed the man and woman on the ship and how she had saved the young women from the storm.   
“Oh, that's so romantic that you saved his fiance for him. You must really like him!” Said all the sisters, but the youngest was confused. 1. How would saving his love interest help her date him if she wanted to? And 2…...it was not him she had wanted to impress. It had been the gorgeous golden haired women who wore the clothes of a man that drew the young maiden in. Something told her her sisters did not want to hear this……  
“Uh, yeah. I really like him…….”she bit her lip, wincing when she used the male pronoun, “Do any of you know where his palace is? I want to get one more look?”. The princesses did indeed know where his palace was, and the next day they showed her. For a long bit, the littlest sister had to endure looking at the awful dark haired man with them, the prince who had no personality besides his pearly white teeth, before they finally left, getting bored of things they had seen before. The little mermaid then swam around the base of the palace, hoping to see the girl. After about half an hour she spotted her. She was holding a piece of wood?(book.) and was wearing a simple white dressing gown, her hair even more wild than it had been on the ship. The little mermaid propped her hands on her chest and watched the thing she could never touch for an eternity. Sometimes she would stretch and reveal her bare legs, or she would tousle her hair out of her face, always bringing a blush back to the young mermaid’s face..   
For a few months, she came back almost everyday after her lessons to watch the women of her Love simply do everyday things. Sometimes the girl would sail again on the ocean, with her supposed fiance, they didn’t seem to be married yet. When they went out on the boat, the young mermaid would follow closely behind and send dolphins to jump beside the boat, she would shoot up geysers to impress them, and one time she even convinced a sea turtle to glide beside the boat so that the girl could pet it.   
It wasn’t all happy though, because sometimes when she came to spy on the girl she was enthralled in her fiancee, or rather he was enthralled in her. She always seemed to accept it but never indulge in it. Knowing nothing of human culture except what little things she had gathered from the ocean in her early years and the implications she had gained from the months of surface watching, she was often confused.   
One day she saw the almost princess wearing a new ring on her finger? “A diamond” She determined, because it sparkled.The princess looked sadder than she ever had before, and she seemed to have dark rings under her eyes from not sleeping. The mermaid conjectured that the wedding must be happening soon.   
It was becoming unbearable to watch the girl with golden hair walk around and not be seen by her. She wondered if her red hair would be as pleasing to the blonde pale princess as hers was to her?  
“Grandmother, how long do humans live if they are not drowned?” She puzzled one day to her lovely elder.   
“Much shorter than us, unless they find love then sometimes their name lives on in epic poems and stories. “  
“How long do we live?”  
“Some three hundred years.”  
“Is there any way for us to live forever?” The mermaid conjectured, pondering an eternity with her beloved.   
“Well, we live on as the sea foam but it is not truly living, it is more a governing. A force of nature than life. One can live forever in the poems if a man were to say he loved you more than anything.”  
She thought on this, and if it were possible to make a woman love her that much.   
“You would need legs to achieve that, “ said the grandmother, guessing exactly what her granddaughters thoughts were.  
The little mermaid blushed and bowed her head.  
“Just be happy and live your three hundred years abundantly, “Said the grandmother, winking,” But if you like someone, pursue her.”  
The mermaid gasped. How had her grandmother guessed? She didn’t know exactly, but she suspected it had to do with her mother’s death, the cause one of which the little mermaid had survived. She had never known her mother as the accident had happened soon after she was born, but in that moment she felt very close to her. Some green sea foam tingled her nose.   
That night there was a ball and which revealed things that took place underneath the waves unrelated to anything on land. Mermaids came dressed in their most adorned shells and kelp wraps and everyone’ hair was braided so elaborately that some would take hours upon hours to take out later. There were clam delicacies and sea slug purees and seaweed smoothies and the youngest sisters were to be presented with suitors that night.   
The youngest mermaid came with her best white kelp shawl wrapped around her and her anemone wristband from the arctic waters. She had her hair braided in a simple style but adorned with golden ibis, soda bottle tabs, which she loved for their shine, and, of course, her favorite red flowers.   
She was quite tired after a few hours, however, and her suitor simply did not excite her. Not compared to her beloved.   
After singing with her sisters a performance to which is still discussed for its beauty to this day, the mermaid made a resolution.   
In her somewhat drunken stupor and tired giggling she slowly took her leave from the party, kissing hands and faces and hair as she made her way to the edge of the party. But she did not stop there, but continued from the pavilion of the peace out to the very edges of the undersea village. Where the whirlpools were, the place where the low life's and evil doers went but this was the only person the mermaid thought could help her.  
Wading through toxic anemones, ducking from sharks and even getting her tail caught briefly in some barbed wire, the girl reached the dark facade of the home of the sea witch. Famous for killing lovers with too strong of a love potion and for tempting young girls into cutting off their gorgeous hair for the promise of happiness. She trembled in fear as she clasped her hand around the fish skull door knob. When she walked in she was met by a dark swirl of water. With eyes wide in fear the mermaid clutched her shawl tightly around herself before letting herself get caught up in the dark swirl of water.  
Her shriek resounded but was not heard over the gravity of the whirlpool. She swirled past skeletons, pieces of shipwrecks, and random limbs. There was even a younger mermaid than herself who was freshly strangled circling about in the water, a skeleton hand gruesomely clutching her neck. The young girl clasped her hands ominously around her small pale neck and gulped.   
She landed on a bed of sea grass and was met by the ugly yet impossible not to stare at sea witch. Her purple hair swirled in knots and tangles and she had brown eels swimming around her and looping through her arms. Occasionally, she would pluck one of them from the horde and eat them whole. Her clothing consisted of a black dress that did nothing to over up her octopus legs.   
“I know what you seek, young mermaid, youngest daughter of King Trident.” Her voice was shrill and altogether unpleasant, and the young girl tried her hardest to not flinch.   
“W-what…..”she collected herself,” What have I come for?” For she honestly wasn’t entirely sure she just knew the sea witch had the power to somehow get her her girl.   
“You wish to get rid of that. To be like the one you love.” The little girl nodded solemnly, tracing her delicate scales for one of the last times. ,” You are in luck, because one more day and the potion would not work, but I will give it to you today. You must swim to the shore and drink it and then your tail will disappear forever, you will no longer get to swim beneath the waves with your sisters. “ The girl nodded with triumphant determination, but the sea witch continued,” However, although you will be viewed as the most beautiful human girl people have ever seen and your legs will provide you the precious grace for a court dancer, you will feel pain at every step. Every time your foot graces the ground it will feel as though you are being run through with a sword, and that you should be leaking red fluids. “ The sea witch smirked  
The little mermaid, thought about all the things she would give up. Comfort, her family, her lfie…...all her trinkets ...but the draw of the blonde haired girl drew her to say, in a tremulous voice, “I will accept, great sea witch. “She turned pale as the glass anemones found in the arctic circle.  
“However, if you do not manage to woo your beloved, you will die instantly and become sea foam.”  
The girl nodded.   
“But,” Murmereed the sea witch, her smile parting to reveal a mouth pockmarked with cysts and missing teeth, contrasting the ethereal beauty of her skin, “I must have payment in return for my concoction.”  
The mermaid nodded, her red hair flowing flatly.   
“I want your most precious thing,”  
The littlest mermaid nodded once more, her hand floating to her hair,  
“No, I want the thing that is your most powerful weapon.”  
The young girl let her hands clasp together. The sea witch wanted her limbs?  
“Oh, no,” She cackled, “I want your lovely voice….” The c in voice dissipated in a long hiss and all the eels swimming around her head seemed to stop moving.   
“But how else may I woo my princess? If not with my wit and circumstance?” The young mermaid exclaimed.  
“You have other attributes. I want it for its beautiful lilt, prettier than all your other sisters, did you not hear the audience's applause for you and only you after your solo just a few moments ago.   
“Okay, “ said the little mermaid,” I will give you my voice in exchange for a chance to be with my one true love. “  
“Perfect.” Grumbled the sea witch, as she summoned a dark cauldron to begin mixing the potion. Multiple eels went in there, a cookbook was consulted and some objects from the surface were included. The witch snatched a flower from the young maid’s hair and then plucked a hair itself. After a moment, the cauldron began to bubble and sufficed to glow brighter and brighter accompanied by the witch’s low demonic mumbling, the potion to give her legs was soon ready.   
The delicate wart covered hands of the witch clasped a small glass vial and she spooned it full only to trap the glowing green mixture with a cork.   
Desperately hoping she could simply grab the vial and get away from the witch without giving up her voice, the mermaid snatched it and turned tail…...literally.   
But she was too slow. The witch grasped her arm tightly and turned her around painfully jerking her arms so that the mermaid was facing her, and her sleepless breathe could be felt upon her pale cheeks.   
“Don’t try to shirk my generosity,” growled the sea witch, sending another nightmare inducing round of breathe up the girl’s small nostrils.   
Finding her voice for one of the last times the mermaid cried out,”But what will be left of me without my voice?”   
“You ungrateful brat! Your lithe movements and clown fish like eyes, and skin as pale as the oldest coral will suffice. What do you think is left of me without your voice? I have power, yes, but your beauty and guile smile will woo your princess sufficiently.Along with the wonderful dancing these legs will provide.   
The witch then let go of the mermaid, who was now as lifeless as a floating door, only to grab a sharp knife, which she cleaned with some kind of potion first. Clutching the girls face roughly in her hands, the witch cut out the girls tongue, cleanly and without pain as the potion she had rubbed on the knife was a pain killer.   
A phantom tongue still existed in her mouth, good for licking up stray bits of fish eggs or perhaps for kissing but the magic of her voice was forever severed from the tongue, and even for a girl who had spent much of her life not using her voice except in chorus with her sisters, the absence of the ability to communicate was devastating.   
But it was all for her princess, she thought to herself.


	5. Part 5: The Princess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She gets legs.  
Surprise.

“If a polipi should seize you on your way out, flickr some of the potion on them as it will splinter them into a thousand peices.” scoffed the witch, but the mermaid found no trouble with them , as the potion in her hand shone like a bottle of constellations and no fish wanted to mess with her.   
She escaped quickly through the remainder of the witches lair, finding it much less terrifying once she had what she wanted. Once she knew that what she sought could be tangible or real. Before surfacing she went to the flower gardens of her sister, kissing their hard work goodbye. Then she ascended to a moonlit surface.   
The shadows of dawn danced around her as she swam in the water for her last moments. She savored the salt, the way the dark liquid felt between her fingers. She turned flips through the seaweed to feel her hair boundless and free under the pressure of the deep once more.   
Finally, just as the sun was broaching the horizon, her lithe body surfaced the waves, her gills taking their last breaths. Perched in the surf, looking longingly at the water, wondering if she had made a mistake, the mermaid unfocused and focused the bottle in her vision.   
She chucked her head back and let the bottle follow, the tasteless green liquid passing the threshold of her lips in a torrent.   
The pain was like nothing anyone could describe. It was somewhat like one of the kitchen knives from the undersea kitchens was perpetually trailing down her sides and her feet…oh my stars she had feet! Little pale ones with 5 toes each…felt like pincushions for the frivolous and spiteful seamstress.   
The princess was there.   
Through the tears in her eyes, the mermaid, no land maid managed to focus on the silhouette of the flowing haired princess.   
Frantically, she attempted to cover herself in her fancy seaweed shawl.   
“Who are you?” Said the princess, her green eyes dazzling in the morning light.   
The young girl shook her head, and simply looked sorrowfully at the older girl, hoping that her blue eyes could convey what her mouth could not.   
“Oh, I see. You are dumb, unalbe to speak.” she pursed her hand on her hip, thinking and it took all the former mermaid could do to not leap up and kiss her, but the pain in her legs was still too great.   
“Okay, well, come with me. I’ll find you some more proper clothes and maybe some food, “ The princess smiled at her and before the girl could get over how beautiful the princess’s voice was, she had a new sensation to attempt to “get over”. The princess had reached down to grasp her hand to help pull her up and although her hands were rough from doing the rigging of ships for years, its warmth overrode the extreme pain the girl was in.   
She scrambled to her feet, ignoring the shooting pain all throughout her lower body, eager to be touched again. To her amazement the woman kept holding her hand as she drew her out of the surf, occasionally looking back at her with her emerald colored eyes.   
It went like that for a few moments, the two girls walking along the surf towards the palace, but soon they reached the portico of the large looming building and the woman abruptly let go. The floor seemed to fall from under the former mermaid as the steadiness of the women’s touch fell away.


End file.
